I grew up confident that I was bad at sports.
Specifically, that I was unathletic, awkward, uncoordinated, and easily fatigued.
I heard it from my peers.
Courtesy of author
I heard it from myself.
And to be fair, my gym teachers, my peers, and I werent totally off the mark.
When I asked to go to the bathroom during gym, Iwasjust trying to get out of class.
But ultimately, I was wrong.
Not to believe that I was bad at sports, but to believe that whether I was bad mattered.
Because sports can actually be really fun, even if youre bad at them.Especiallyif youre bad at them.
Heres how I picked up a fun new hobby that I am delightfully awful at.
Let your whims be your guide.
My initial foray into the world of sports was rowing.
Meet me at the gym tomorrow at 5 a.m. Rowing turned out to be cold, wet, painful, and exhausting.
Somehow, I loved it immediately.
Trying out rowing altered my understanding of myself, for the better.
I no longer understood my relationship with athletics through the simplistic binary of good vs bad.
I realized I could justenjoya sport.
I was still unathletic, awkward, uncoordinated, and easily fatigued.
As a competitive person whos also highly resistant to change, Ive always had trouble trying new things.
Advice that had once seemed meaninglessly cliche rang with possibility.
Thanks to this whim, I said yes.
Snowboarding can be expensivebe cheap about it.
The first thing I did after agreeing to try snowboarding was balk at the cost.
The good news is that there are ways toreduce the price tag.
It helps to visit smaller mountains not owned by big conglomerates, for starters.
Tickets are often cheaper on weekdays and when bought in advance.
For my next trip, I set the goal of finding pants that stayed up.
I borrowed gloves from a friend.
Delight in the freedom of low-to-no expectations.
and the foibles of boarding while double-jointed (a mixed bag!
), and with absolutely no idea how to stop once I got going.
As I ascended the mountain for the first time, my phone remained at the base.
The opportunity for a brief tech break ended up an unexpected boon.
My ordinary anxieties and propensity for distraction circled as I wobbled my way down the mountain.
I had never been less able to check Twitterand soon, I had never been less eager to.
With everything nonessential pushed aside, I found myself experiencing a blissful mind-body unity.
Prioritize enjoyment and dont take yourself too seriously.
My last run of my first snowboarding trip happened in the dark.
Id been both giddy and uneasy all day.
By now, I should be improving.
I stood at the top of the mountain alongside my friends.
They offered me reassuring smiles and began their descents as anxiety thrummed through me.
But to my surprise, neither came.
I assessed my position.
My head, ensconced safely in a helmet, had bounced comically off the hard-packed snow and ice.
And rather than cursing or crying, I was laughing.
The anxiety that had threatened to overwhelm me moments before had fizzed over and evaporated away.
I hauled myself to my feet.
I was able to pick up speed, the wind raking across my face.
At one point I reached what I swear was a vertical sheet of ice.
The dinosaur kid, ahead of me with their parents, waved and giggled.
They cheered for me, looking equally surprised.
But I realized it didnt matter.
I could take another crack.
After my second trip, I was done snowboarding for the season.
Sure, practice makes perfectbut I was aiming for terrible.
Forget the 10,000 hours it allegedly takes to get good at something new.
You dont have to get good at snowboarding (or pay for dozens of trips).
I find it exhilarating.
